Turn-table for electric railways



(No Model.)

' T. A. EDISON.

TURN TABLE EUR ELECTRIC EAILWAYS.

Patente-d Mar.6,1883'.

INVBNTOR:

BY fb/.9% yw, ATTQRNEY WITNBSSBS (5. WJW@ 'NITED -STfrrns PATENT OFFICE.

THOMAS A. EDISON, OF MENLO PAR-K, NEW J ERSEY.

TURN-TABLE FOR ELECTRIC RAILWAYS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 273,489, dated'March 6, 1883. Application tiled August 7, 1882. (No model.)

T o all whom @t may concern Be it known that I, THOMAS A. EDISON, of Menlo Park, inthe county ot' Middlesex and State ot' New Jersey, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Turn-Tables for ElectricRailways, (Oase No. 430;) and I do hereby declare that the following is a full and exact description of the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, and to the letters of reference marked thereon.

The object of this invention is to provide a turn-table suitable for use with an electric railway in which the current actuating the trains is conducted to them through the rails ot' the track, which turn-table shall be so connected that there will be no danger of a short circuit when it is moved, and so that a carcan be run onto the table and, after being reversed, receive current to move it off again.

My invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which Figure l is a top view of the turntable, and Fig. 2 a vertical section of the same.

rllhe turn-table consists of a frame-work, A, pivoted at its center B, and supported 0n four rollers, O O and D l), which run on a circular metallic track composed ot' two sections, F F, electrically divided from each other by means of two short insulated sections, G H, which, however, must be long enough not to allow a short circuit between the parts E F when the rollers pass from one to the other. Opposite rollers O Gare connected to the rails I J of the turn-table, respectively, and the stationary rail K is connected to-the section E ot' the circular track, while stationary rail L is connected to the section F, such connections beingmade by wires, as shown, or in any other suitable manner. The rollers D D, however, are insulated from all the rails.

It will be seen that a car may be run onto the turn-table, and will receive currentthrough the circular track and the rollers O O, and after such car is reversed, on the circuit being completed to the armature of the electric motor o n the car, (such circuit being of course broken while the car is beingturned around,) current will reach the car in the same way to remove it from the turn-table again.

That I claim isl. In electric railways, the combination, with the stationary rails acting as conductors. of a turn-table and electrical connections ot' the stationary rails around the turn-table, where by the tlow of current through the stationary rails is not affected by the movement ot the turn-table, substantially as set forth.

2. In electric railways,the combination, with the stationary rails acting asconductors, of a tnrntable,electrical connections of the-'station ary rails around the turn-table, and electrical connections with the rails of the turn-table for supplying the same with currents, substantially as set forth.

3. In a turn-table for electric railways, th combination of the circular track divided into two electrically-insulated sections, the rollers running on said track, and the turn-table rails carried by said rollers, one pair of diagonallyopposite rollers being electrically connected with such rails, as shown, substantially as set forth.

4. In an electric-railway turn-table, the circular metallic track divided into two electricallyinsulated sections, each ot' such sections being electrically connected with one line of the stationary rails, in combination with electrical connections between such sections and the rails of the turn-table, substantially as set forth.

This specication signed and witnessed this 9th day of June, 1882.

THOS. A. EDISON. 

